The Movie Orgy

Dante first presented this epic found-footage program in 1968, but the creative sensibility of his Hollywood career is already in evidence. At once a send-up and a celebration of American kitsch, it draws on 50s drive-in movies, vintage commercials, and TV westerns (there are also lengthy clips of Abbott and Costello and other comedy legends). Dante's accomplishment here is to make everything seem fake: footage of early A-bomb tests and video of Richard Nixon's Checkers speech seem like products of the same garish showmanship that produced Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Dante has presented this in various versions over the years, some running more than seven hours; this one clocks in at 280 minutes.
ByBen Sachs